Kolkata, Feb 21 (PTI) The latest ripples in West Bengal politics, created by Pratikur Rahaman, a prominent leader of the CPI(M)’s young brigade who defected to the TMC on Saturday ahead of the crucial state polls, could well be the shot in the arm for the ruling party amid its so-called “popularity loss” among Muslim voters, stakeholders said.
The cross-over may not be equally reciprocating and beneficial for Rahaman unless, of course, he decides to fall in line with Mamata Banerjee’s style of operations, they added. Rahaman, who took on TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee from the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha seat in the 2024 general elections and has allegedly been at the receiving end of brutal Trinamool attacks during his days as a firebrand Left leader, ironically, switched camp in the presence of the party’s second-in-command at Amtala, South 24 Parganas.
Earlier, Pratikur spoke to the media about his discontent with certain individuals in the CPI(M) leadership, alleging gag culture and nepotism which cornered him within the organisation.
Pratikur resigned from the CPI(M)’s state committee and its primary membership on February 16 stating he was “unable to align with the party’s district and state leadership’s views and strategies on some issues in recent times”.
“They want unquestioned loyalty from me and pushed me to the corner because I questioned certain ideologies and principals of the party. That’s not how I envision the functioning of a communist party.
“And it’s not just me. There are thousands of honest and dedicated Pratikurs who are suffering the same ignominy in the party. The party removed Srijan Bhattacharya, one of its sharpest young leaders, from the list of speakers in the Bangla Bachao Yatra rallies despite incompetent leaders making it to the dais,” Rahaman had told TV channel interviewers.
The general secretary of the CPI(M)’s Bengal unit, Md Salim, had equated Pratikur’s defection to the “pain of losing one’s own child.” However, he also called it the party’s “victory” in producing fresh, untainted and idealist political elements in the state which parties like the TMC are having to dip into to “save its moral bankruptcy.” “A party like Trinamool, steeped in corruption, nepotism, lawlessness and communal politics, knows it has failed to impress voters with all its dole politics and pro-religion agenda. It has hence dipped a mug into the ocean of young left brigade to pick one individual who they think can save its rapidly dwindling popularity,” Salim told reporters on Friday.
The CPI(M) expelled Rahaman after the rebel leader formally joined the TMC.
Senior journalist Biswajit Bhattacharya said that Pratikur’s presence in Trinamool would undoubtedly provide thrust to the party’s campaigns for the upcoming state elections, especially in Muslim-dominant districts, both in north and south Bengal.
But, he added, the leader could well find himself “like a fish out of water” if he is unable to adjust to the TMC’s party culture.
“The TMC will certainly benefit in campaigns from a face like Pratikur, especially in districts like Malda, Murshidabad, Uttar and Dakshin Dinajpur as well as North and South 24 Parganas which has significant Muslim voters. He may or may not be offered an assembly seat. But that may not be where the story ends,” Bhattacharya said.
“If he has found expressing his opinions on party’s ideology and principles within the CPI(M) gagging, then for the same reasons he may feel like a fish out of water within Trinamool,” the journalist, who has covered politics in Bengal for decades, added. Prof Maidul Islam, a political science teacher at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata, felt Pratikur’s jumping ship would aid the TMC in securing the electoral loyalty of a section of the Left vote base, which continues to admire the young leader for both his political resilience and rebel mentality.
“Here is a head-to-toe political element which the TMC can use for its image makeover,” Islam said. “Pratikur can become the face for the new minority community leadership in a party where ideological articulation remains mostly blurred.” The academician opined that the days of unbridled loyalty to a party, despite sacrifices made for it going unrewarded are now over. “Most politicians, however honest, have their back-up plans ready for the eventuality of their rise in party structure getting thwarted. That’s not unusual in this era of career politics,” he said.
Economist Prasenjit Bose, once a top strategist of the SFI at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, quit the party in 2012 when he was in his late 30s following differences over the Left choosing to support the candidature of Pranab Mukherjee as the President of India. He was subsequently expelled by the party.
Bose functioned in the following years as a dynamic social activist, researcher and columnist before joining the Congress party in September 2025. “Desertion by younger leaders should be a cause for sober introspection for the Left. It does not reflect a brighter future (for the party),” Bose said, while refusing to delve deeper into how this development could affect the CPI(M) or how the TMC could stand to reap poll benefits in the state as a result.” PTI SMY NN
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